Labour’s loss of Glasgow East will put rocket boosters under the speculation about Gordon Brown’s future. If Labour under Brown can’t win in Glasgow East, where can it win?
MPs are now away from Westminster which makes plotting more complicated. But after this result, various Labour MPs are going to be seized by—to borrow a phrase—the fierce urgency of now.
If Labour’s 25th safest seat can be lost to a three figure majority, then you can count on your fingers the numbers of Labour MPs who can have total confidence about keeping their seat. Even if Brown survives the summer, tonight’s result guarantees that leadership speculation will be a major factor at the Labour conference.
What the plotters do not have yet is a candidate. Wait to see if Labour MPs start privately pressing Alan Johnson—the one Labour figure the Tories fear—to make himself available.
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